Chapter 108 Altar

Zhou Ze was shocked. The spectacle was too grand.

Even in TV dramas, Daoists didn’t set up such elaborate altars for sacrifices. In ordinary temples, some fruit and a pig's head were already considered good offerings.

But here,

It was a live sacrifice!

More than twenty living people,

That whole family,

Had been deliberately placed there as tributes, to be sacrificed to the Sea God!

Zhou Ze had unique experiences, he had even been to Hell. In his two lifetimes, he had seen many people and ghosts. Logically speaking, there weren't many things that could truly shake him.

But the scene before him caused Zhou Ze to lose his composure for a moment.

He knew that there were old women with snow-white hair and wrinkled skin, and also very young children. These people should have had their own lives, their own laughter and joy, but now they were all imprisoned here. They couldn't even drift freely like fish, but could only be tossed from one side of the cage to the other by the waves.

Even in death, they were being farmed!

The person who had arranged this sacrifice seemed to be afraid that his carefully prepared offerings might fall out, preventing the Sea God from eating his fill, so he was being so considerate.

"Glug…"

His body was a little weak now, so he couldn’t hold his breath for long. Zhou Ze reached out and lifted Bai Yingying's wrist from where she was holding his waist, signaling her to take him up for air.

However,

Bai Yingying didn't react, as if she felt nothing.

Zhou Ze pinched her hand,

She remained unmoved, still and silent.

Zhou Ze grabbed her arm,

She still seemed oblivious.

Zhou Ze turned his head and glared at her.

He found that Bai Yingying actually had her eyes closed!

I can't see,

I can't see anything.

Zhou Ze's right index fingernail grew out,

Bai Yingying's body suddenly trembled,

And immediately took Zhou Ze up to the surface.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

After getting some air, Zhou Ze felt much better. He didn't bother dwelling on Bai Yingying's little scheme just now, and said directly:

"Let's go up."

"Alright, Boss!"

Bai Yingying didn't mention what had just happened. Then, like a small King Kong, she wrapped her right arm around Zhou Ze's waist and directly hoisted him up like a rag doll, grabbing the side of the ship with her other hand and climbing up.

Clean, neat, and effortless.

Zhou Ze first sat down on a chair, catching his breath and waiting for some of the water to drain from his clothes, otherwise they would be too heavy and uncomfortable to wear.

"Boss, what was going on down there?"

"You don't know?"

"How could I know?"

"Wasn't your mistress drowned in a pig cage after being caught having an affair with a scholar?"

"Um…"

"Someone is using living people as sacrifices to offer to the Sea God," Zhou Ze said.

"Sacrifices? Offerings?" Bai Yingying was shocked. Even as a zombie, she found it too cruel and horrific.

"So what's going on now? We're here, and there's an iron cage full of corpses below. What is this for?"

"I'm not sure either. And I have a feeling that this might have something to do with that old man or that woman. At the very least, that old man is definitely involved."

Why was the old man definitely involved?

Could the fox spirit be an exception?

Bai Yingying thought to herself.

Just then, the wind picked up, and it was very strong. The originally calm sea suddenly became turbulent, causing the yacht to rock back and forth as if it could capsize at any moment.

Zhou Ze continued to sit in his chair. To be honest, he felt a little helpless. If he were a Judge now, he might have the qualifications to communicate with the other side on equal terms, but as he was now, he was clearly not taken seriously by the other party.

Of course, the most important question right now was whether this Sea God was considered good or bad in traditional beliefs.

Was he accepting the sacrifices and giving the sacrificers corresponding rewards, or did the sacrificers' actions make him feel angry and violated, so he came to punish them?

At his level, it should be difficult to constrain his actions with traditional concepts of right and wrong, shouldn't it?

"Clang…"

Waves of seawater crashed over, and the yacht was rocking more and more violently. Bai Yingying stood firmly, grabbing Zhou Ze's shoulder with one hand to help him stay steady on the deck.

"Boss, this ship is going to capsize."

"I know."

Zhou Ze held onto Bai Yingying's arm and勉强stood up. When he looked ahead, he saw what looked like land, or rather, an island, a not-so-small island.

"Splash!"

A harsh mechanical grinding sound came, and the yacht finally couldn't withstand it and flipped over completely. Bai Yingying was quick-witted and jumped into the sea with Zhou Ze before the yacht capsized.

So, Zhou Ze was lucky. Before many drowning victims died, how much they wished they had a Bai Yingying by their side.

As Bai Yingying swam, she kept Zhou Ze's head above the water so he could breathe fresh air. Zhou Ze was like a joey in its kangaroo mother's pouch, being delicately cared for.

He could only raise his head, breathing and spitting out the water that splashed into his mouth and nose,

While… looking at the sky.

Finally, Bai Yingying reached the shore.

Zhou Ze lay on the beach, panting heavily.

"Boss, there's another person lying over there."

Bai Yingying suddenly pointed to the beach over there.

Zhou Ze turned to look, and sure enough, there was a young man lying there, wearing very tattered clothes. If he was a salted fish before, then that person was a salted fish about to be dried out.

"I'll go kill him."

Bai Yingying said, adhering to the principle of nipping all dangerous sprouts in the bud.

Zhou Ze reached out and pressed down on Bai Yingying, shaking his head and saying, "Don't you think that guy looks a little familiar?"

"Familiar?" Bai Yingying looked hard. Finally, she seemed to have thought of something and said, "He looks like that old man. Is he the old man's son? Oh no, or grandson."

"Unlikely, it shouldn't be," Zhou Ze denied.

At this moment, a python crawled out of the sea.

Zhou Ze also found this python a little familiar. It really looked like the one he had fought before, except that this snake looked a little smaller, and its scales weren't as thick as before.

The snake slowly climbed onto the young man. It didn't have any murderous intent or ferocity on its body, and it seemed to be completely unaware that Zhou Ze and Bai Yingying were by its side. It just stared at the person below it.

"Boss, this snake is about to become an essence," Bai Yingying suddenly said.

"I can see that."

This python gave people a feeling full of wisdom and human-like emotions, a bit like the monkey Zhou Ze had first seen.

The python opened its mouth, not biting the young man in front of it, but biting its own torso, biting a hole in its own body. Then, the snake's body climbed over the young man, bringing the wound it had bitten open to the man's mouth.

At first, the python's blood only slowly dripped into the man's mouth. Soon, the man seemed to regain some consciousness and began to actively suck the snake blood. The color on his face was slowly returning.

Finally, the man let go of his hand, let out a long sigh, and then he opened his eyes. When he saw the python for the first time, the man trembled all over in fright.

The python didn't stay, but swam directly back into the sea from the beach, leaving a pool of blood on the ground.

After the python entered the sea and went away, the man immediately got up and kowtowed several times in the direction the python had gone, muttering something, and then reached out to pick up a piece of snake scale left on the ground.

"What is he saying?" Bai Yingying asked, because the man's dialect was a bit heavy, and Bai Yingying couldn't hear it very clearly.

"He is thanking the Sea God for saving him," Zhou Ze replied.

The man walked into the island's forest and disappeared.

"So, the question is, Boss, how do we leave?"

Bai Yingying tilted her head and asked. Then, as if she had thought of something, she asked:

"I think it would be nice for us to be Robinson Crusoe here."

There was "Robinson Crusoe" in the bookstore, and Bai Yingying had taken the time to read it.

Zhou Ze felt that his maid seemed to be a little abnormal lately, as if she had been made silly by watching Korean dramas.

Just then, the yacht that had just capsized reappeared on the sea.

"Wow, Boss, the ship is back again."

"I can see that."

That yacht came back again, but this time there were people on the yacht, and many people.

An old man was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed off the boat by a servant. The servant was a woman with a white veil covering her face, but judging from her figure and temperament, this woman also looked a little familiar.

"The breasts have sagged a little, the butt has gotten a little fatter, and the waist is a little thicker. Boss, if you reverse-subtract some back, wouldn't she look a lot like someone?"

It was that woman, the old man's wife.

Many people came down from the ship. The old man was sitting in a wheelchair with a hanging drip bottle. Obviously, the old man didn't have much time left.

Just then, Zhou Ze's gaze instantly凝固. He saw a priest walking down from the yacht, an Asian priest,

Yes, that's right,

This was the guy who stole his ashes!

However, this priest looked a little younger now, and his skin was fairer, with a round face, looking harmless.

He walked to the old man's side. The old man reached out and dismissed the woman. The woman walked away, walking to a very far away place. Some things were not convenient for her to know, and she was also very conscious and sensible.

The old man seemed to be saying something to the priest. The priest nodded in agreement,

Then,

The old man took out a black scale from his arms.

The priest looked at the scale, then lowered his head and said something in the old man's ear.

Upon hearing this, the old man's face first showed shock, then struggle. He seemed to be hesitating,纠结. Finally, the old man looked at his hanging IV bottle and then at the amorous woman standing in the distance.

His fingers clenched the scales tightly, and 青筋毕露.

Then he gritted his teeth, with a face full of brutality,

And nodded.

The priest bowed slightly beside him.

"Boss, they are talking too quietly, I can't hear them."

Bai Yingying said a little helplessly. She tried to walk forward to get closer to the talking old man and priest, but the further she walked forward, the further the distance between those two people and her increased.

Zhou Ze waved his hand,

Said, "No need to listen."

"Then how do we leave here?" Bai Yingying asked a little uneasy.

"We can leave," Zhou Ze smiled, "In fact, there is no Sea God at all."

Bai Yingying didn't understand, but Zhou Ze did understand. Yes, there was no Sea God.

"Huh?"

"There is no Sea God, only a snake that is mistaken for a Sea God."

Zhou Ze raised his head, looked at the sky, and shouted:

"You can't beat me, and you were seriously injured by me. This illusion can't last too long, right?

Especially after I know that you are not actually a Sea God, the power of your illusion has lost ninety-nine percent. Do you think you still have a chance to kill me in here?"

"Buzz buzz buzz…"

A snake's head slowly emerged from the sand next to Zhou Ze.

All the surrounding illusions began to shatter.

Zhou Ze was now sitting on the floor of the living room, while Bai Yingying was standing next to Zhou Ze. Everything around them had returned to normal.

"I didn't want to kill you with this…"

The python, who had been scratched all over by Zhou Ze's fingernails, actually spoke at this moment, but its voice was a little shrill.

"Tsk tsk." Zhou Ze reached out and patted the snake's head, then looked up, a little helplessly, and said, "You actually wanted to kill me directly at first. You didn't expect that I could turn you into this, so you changed your approach and became roundabout."

When force didn't work, it tried a softer approach.

"He should die…" the python said.

"I have a monkey at home, you should have a common language, but in your state, you will obviously turn to dust soon, it's a pity."

"He should die…" the python seemed to only be able to say this sentence.

Zhou Ze did think of the monkey, of his initial fight with that monkey in the hospital, and of the final outcome, including his conscience being "eaten" because of that incident.

The same choice, but this time, Zhou Ze's choice was different. He raised his hand and said very seriously:

"That woman should not die."

The python hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly, as if agreeing.

Then, Zhou Ze put his hand down and looked elsewhere.

The python nodded to Zhou Ze, its forked tongue brushed against Zhou Ze's arm, and then it蠕动its 残躯 towards the stairs.

Bai Yingying couldn't understand and looked at Zhou Ze, asking, "Boss, didn't that snake save him? Since it saved him back then, why does it want to kill him now?"

"It's very simple. Sixty years ago, this python had just opened its mind and was cultivating to accumulate merit, so it took the initiative to save the young man who was washed up on the beach and was about to die because of a shipwreck.

The young man survived, and then prospered, earning a lot of money, becoming very rich and very influential. Then the young man became an old man who was plagued with diseases and about to die.

The old man didn't want to die, he still had a lot of money, and he still wanted to continue enjoying his life.

For other people, it's basically impossible to prolong their lives except through medical means, but the old man was different. He had seen the 'Sea God' when he was young, and he regarded the snake that saved him as the Sea God.

So, the old man planned to use this to prolong his life. He felt that sixty years ago, the Sea God had saved him once, so sixty years later, the Sea God should be able to save him again.

He also found a江湖术士…"

Speaking of that Japanese priest, a strong murderous intent flashed in Zhou Ze's eyes.

That bastard, this time, after his injuries recovered, he had to kill him, no matter what else was going on at that time, he had to kill him!

"That priest gave him a method of sacrificing to an evil god, which was to use the lives of his relatives to prolong his life."

"Ah…" Bai Yingying exclaimed, "So the family on the yacht that drowned five years ago?"

"Didn't you see it, it was specially arranged by the old man to be sacrificed. He regarded his own wife, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, etc., as sacrifices to prolong his life."

"Then what?"

"He succeeded, because he had that scale in his hand, and the method given by that priest was not a 空穴来风, so he succeeded.

Didn't you see, the old man was in a wheelchair five years ago, ready to die at any time, but five years later he could actually walk on his own, and even occasionally have marital relations with his嬌妻.

He succeeded, he really succeeded."

"So does that mean that the python and the old man reached an agreement?" Bai Yingying asked, "Then why is this python coming to kill him again after five years?"

Zhou Ze shook his head,

"No agreement was reached. The python was tricked, tricked very badly by the old man. It was originally cultivating to a certain age, walking a very orthodox path, but because of the sacrifice that the old man made with its scale, it was passively thrust into the series of evil gods that were not tolerated by heaven and earth. The previous hundreds of years of effort were basically in vain.

It's like a mouthful of poison milk, the python was flipped over in a daze.

The python might have even had some problems because of this, and it took five years to solve some of them, and then, at all costs, risking its own life and death道消, it had to come to land to find this old man for revenge!

It was the one who saved him in the first place, but he ended up tricking it."

Bai Yingying nodded thoughtfully, "So, there is no Sea God at all?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then Boss, you let it go up to take revenge this time?" Bai Yingying asked.

The implication was that you didn't do that with the monkey last time.

"I was badly injured, I can't beat it anymore, I don't want to risk my life," Zhou Ze explained.

Bai Yingying pouted and pointed to herself.

The meaning was, I can deal with a snake that was almost beaten to a pulp by you.

"You are a little girl who is afraid of even rats and cockroaches, how could you possibly stop it, right?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Yingying understood and immediately clasped her fists over her chest,摇晃ing and saying:

"嘤嘤嘤,

Yes,

People are really scared."

——————

ps: This chapter has more than 5,000 words, I finished writing the story before posting it, without ending it abruptly.

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